I've been fortunate enough to always have plenty of work, offers to go out and play shows. The hardest thing I have to do is pick out which one I want. For some reason, there's a great demand out there, whether I've got a new record out or not.

People thought we were crazy for starting a record company. They really thought I was shooting myself in the foot.

'Sam Stone' is a song about futility.

Howie Epstein was a kind, patient, and extremely talented musician. He took two years out of his life and dedicated his undivided attention to the making of two of my records. Those records changed my life thanks to Howie.

All the girls over there in Ireland are well versed in American country music. Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline are like king and queen over there.

I like doing chores.

The only reason I figured out I didn't like my old records to listen was I could hear how nervous I was and how uncomfortable I was. And who would want to sit around and listen to yourself being uncomfortable?

I always feel like every song is the last song.

I never gave up on 'Archie.' I started picking up 'Archie' comics when I was in my thirties, and then I started subscribing to them.

When you're singing somebody else's songs, it's just pure joy to me.

Ignorance is bliss as a writer, I think.

I found it easier to make up songs than to learn other people's songs.

I don't concern myself with where I fit in. I just keep my head down and keep doing whatever it is I'm going.

I just like a good, sad song. The sadder, the better. It moves me.

I guess what I always found funny was the human condition.

I have to have something that really excites me in order to write about it.

Johnny Cash was like Abraham Lincoln to me.

When I'm writing a lyric, things can only get so serious before they start becoming humorous.

You get to thinking that because you've written 50 or 100 songs, you think maybe you know how to do it. But when they're not coming along, you're just as in the dark as you ever were. When they're coming along, there's nothing to it. Sometimes it's so easy, it's like you're a court stenographer.

I grew up in Chicago, but I spent a lot of time down in Kentucky, and Kentucky was about 20 years behind the life that was in Chicago.

I can blame a lot of things for not writing songs, but cancer isn't one of them.

Some voices don't blend. They just kinda rub against each other.

My first Grammy nomination? I was 24 - I was nominated for best new artist of the year.

For me, there's nothing like performing.

I never fit in with straight country. I never really fit in with rock n' roll. I've always been somewhere in between all this stuff.

In the Army, I was very good at avoiding my job!

I hate to admit it to my wife, but I only wear two outfits on the road, and then a third one during the day, but I carry about 20.

The Songwriters Hall of fame, that's the one all the big-time writers get into, the really great stuff, the Broadway stuff and all that. That would be something, to get your name in there.

The only time I ever think about getting old is when I look in the mirror. I feel pretty good about it, actually.

The more producers I talked to, the more I got looked at like I was crazy for wanting to make a live-sounding album.

In high school, I was a poor student.

If some part of the review is true, those are the ones that sting.

I think it shows when you have to work too hard on a song.

Writing songs used to be my hobby; it used to be my getaway.

I try to write about things that actually happened so that I know it's real before I put it down on paper.

Man, I hated school. I'd stare at the buttons on the teacher's shirt the whole class.

Never wear your necktie while you're operating a lathe.

The best way to write a song is to think of something else and then the song kind of creeps in.

Because of my song 'Sam Stone,' a lot of people thought I was interested in writing protest songs. Writing protest songs always struck me as patting yourself on the back.

I still enjoy the heck out of getting up there to play shows every night.

I was kind of shy as a lad, and a lot of things that made me laugh, I found, did not make other people laugh.

I think of the Bible as an unauthorized biography.

I don't like to be caught without a pick.

If somebody tells me to work or exercise, I go the other way. I'll come up with an excuse.

My fans have always taken care of me.

After cancer, I ain't scared of nothing.

There's nothing I hate more than canceling shows.

I'll go to the movies and hear 'Angel From Montgomery' in some film, and nobody ever even told me about it. They don't tell you your stuff is going to be in a movie. They don't have to, so they don't tell you. You get paid eventually.

I'm not good at remembering things, in general.

When I'm making my own record, it's real work for me.